Catholic Church, Christians come together for the prayer of Unity

By Elias Hakizimana.

Christians from different churches including Catholic Church have come together for the prayer of Unity of Christians.

This holly initiative started in 1908 where it is celebrated every starting month of the year on January 18th.

Various Christians representative including pastors and fathers have embarked on the rationale of this initiative during a live talk show aired on Pacis TV Catholic Church Rwanda on January 22, 2021.

The discussions had the theme: ‘Is Unity of Christians Possible?’ and mixed views of Christians representatives proved that this is possible through various circumstanmces.

The discussions were held along with the week dedicated for praying for unity of Christians in Rwanda.

According to Cardinal Antoine Kambanda, the prayer for unity of Christians started since 1908 (around 100 years) and is done from January 18 until February 25.

 

“This prayer is very meaningful among Christians’ lives; various Christians from different churches kneel down and pray so that God helps us to unite. In Rwanda, this day and this week are prepared by the Rwanda bible society,” he said.

Samuel Kayinamura, the representative of Methodist church in Rwanda said that churches consider unity of Christians as implementing the mission of jesus to spread the good news. (John 17: 21).

“Failure to have Unity of our Lord Jesus Christ as the legacy to his people is disappointing him and is a definite loss, churches understand that unity in that regard, this unity is possible unlike some issues that weak it, since 1970, that unity established protestant institute of arts and social sciences in Huye district.” Kayinamura noted.

Reveland Pastor Mrs. Julie Kandema, the representative of Presbyterian church in Rwanda during this talk show said that Christians really understand that the gospel helps them to build unity and togetherness as children of God.

“Unity and complementarily helps Christians to strive for common spiritual live and development in their daily lives. This does not imply that the whole family has a common religion or church. A husband can be a catholic and a wife can be a protestant but they all have unity as Christians and we use to meet all together for social development activities. Love is the most important thing among the community of Christians.” She said.

Father Jean Bosco Ntagungira of Regina Pacis Catholic church said that some people guess that unity of Christians remained backward.

He also said that in the past this unity did not exist due to some social conflicts based of churches.

“This unity is a gift we must receive, Jesus Christ mentioned it through a pray, so this unity has made a tremendous journey even in our country to manage bringing together the churches, this unity is a journey we must keep even in our households, we normally tell Christians that Jesus Christ is one person, which reminds them to stay together.” He noted.